Foods That Help Reduce Stress and Weight

Foods That Reduce Stress And Weight

One of the most common comments I get from people who start following this lifestyle is that they just loose weight when they are over weight and whilst I haven’t personally experienced it others claim similar but opposite effects happen if we are underweight we put it on till we reach our own bodies natural or correct weight.  It just happens as a part of the natural cycle of loosing the toxins.  I know that as my weight came down from almost 14 stone (196 Lbs) or (89 Kg) toward my present weight of 11 stone 9lbs (163 Lbs) or (74 Kgs) it changed so much, from my self image, attitude, extra energy and most appreciated was a regaining of lost dexterity.  Instead of having to give bottles and jars to my wife to open now she gives them to me.  Possibly the simplest explanation is that with the combination of reversing arthritis and the joints naturally regrowing along with the associated lost weight is that as a farmer I can again do the things a bloke has to do and guess that what the girls tell me they appreciate again being able to do the things a girl has to do.  In Chapter 30 starting on Page 105 of Arthritis Healed Without Drugs I shared the absolute best way of toning up the body, getting rid of toxins, and washing the body with so much more first class nutrition with a specialised juice fast (actually a fast it is not as we get so much more nutrients than normal) washing every cell with so much wonderful and readily absorbable nutrition I get so invigorated and energy gain is astounding. Because over and above diet and lack of exercise, there's an unknown factor that can add to the thickness of your love handles and the thunder in your thighs stress is a major input to the cause of weight problems either our bodies grabbing at every bit of fat for its perceived needed energy reserves or the bodies inability to absorb the proper nutrients because of that stress.  Excess toxins play a major roll here. When our body gears up to deal with outside stressors, both mental and physical, two hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) are released to jump-start fats and carbohydrates in your body for quick energy. This reflects the way the human body functioned back in the day of our caveman ancestors, whose lives depended on how quick their "fight or flight" reactions were. Although we're no longer running from saber-toothed tigers or fighting rival tribes (our modern stresses are more mental), that biological programming is still there. When an event (physical or mental) occurs that your body deems as stressful, adrenaline increases your heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output and carbohydrate metabolism. Cortisol directs the necessary energy to meet the increased needs of your muscles or brain to respond to the stress. Once your stressful event is over, your adrenaline level drops pretty quickly, but cortisol sticks around to refuel your body and bring it back to balance. One way it does this is it gives you a HUGE appetite, hoping that you'll replace the fat and carbs you used up during the "crisis." This process is fine if the stress you've just dealt with is sudden and short-lived, like maybe getting in a fender-bender or going for a root canal. But the problem arises when people have constant stress, day in and day out. With chronic stress, cortisol levels go up and remain high. This causes you to "stress eat" a lot because the cortisol in your body is constantly telling you to refuel. Are you starting to understand how stress leads to overeating and - a spare tire or muffin top? Chronically elevated cortisol levels can also lead to other problems including depressed immune function, low thyroid function, problems with blood sugar control and eventually adrenal burnout and chronic illness (like type II diabetes, repeated infections, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure and hypothyroidism). So...in order to help take off those extra pounds and keep them off (as well as help prevent chronic illness), it's important to keep your stress level low. The terrific news is there are certain nutrients that can naturally help you combat stress. They include: Zinc Zinc is part of at least 80 different bodily enzyme reactions, and a deficiency of it can lead to irritability, chronic anger, poor memory, impaired intellectual ability, loss of taste and smell and reduced ability to handle stress. Zinc is found in oysters, meats and poultry, beans, nuts and whole grains. Copper Copper helps stimulate the growth of red blood cells and is part of several digestive enzymes. Being low in copper causes physical weakness, digestive problems and breathing problems.  Copper is also essential in proper bone formation and prevention of Arthritis and osteoporosis.  According to a famous old French vet who observed that cancer was inhibited in animals where the soil was rich in copper.  As on average 75% of our soil minerals have over the past 70 years been leached and washed out to sea potentially the best natural food source of copper (and minerals taken as part of a natural food have the best absorption) is Kelp Powder or Kelp tablets that are taken with meals or sprinkled over out meals.  The Japanese make a wonderful use of the kelp leaf in their food preparation. Excellent sources of copper are cashews, hazelnuts, almonds, peanut butter, lentils, beans and whole barley, broccoli, garlic, liver, mushrooms, oats, oranges, pecan nuts, radishes, salmon, and green leafy vegetables. A note of explanation here is that larger dosages of Zink and vitamin C acts to reduce Copper, conversely large Copper dosages of Copper also reduces absorption of vitamin C and Zink but a better balance is usually obtained by obtaining all our essential vitamins and minerals as a natural part of our varied food sources where they are better balanced and in a natural state.  Cooking foods particularly most vegetables (some must be cooked) once they are heated over 40 degrees Centigrade (100F) the enzymes necessary for proper absorption of these vegetables and their vitamins and minerals are killed so our absorption is reduced to less than half (around 15%).  When we take our vegetables as freshly prepared juice in slow revving high quality juicers (which are unfortunately more expensive) we can absorb as much as 80% of their nutrients.  As far as I’m concerned personally this along with the daily quantity consumed has been a vitally important aspect of my miracle recovery. We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Gerson who suffered immense persecution from the main stream American Medical Profession for daring to share his miraculous discoveries of how to CURE advanced cancer with the top medical specialists and teachers because he was healing 50% of the terminal cases that they sent home to die after mutilating their bodies, filling them with toxic drugs and exposing them substantial radiation and failed to cure them.  Gerson’s first objective was to detox their entire bodies from these toxins by feeding then the fresh juices and unprocessed natural foods that both cleansed the cells and at the same time provided fresh pure nutrition to strengthen the immune and aid the bodies own immune to overcome the disease that caused the tumours and in doing so they simply dissolved and were passed out of the body in our normal waste disposal system.  In talking about fresh juices one of the biggest problems we see today is peoples reluctance to take enough juice to be effective.  They drink a glass of juice and imagine it will do marvels and whilst it is way better than none Gerson used to feed his patients an 8 oz glass (250 mls) of juice every hour with 13 glasses in all over a day.  This amounts to just over 3 litres (.8 of a gallon) over the day.  This was what it took to rid the body of the medically prescribed toxins along with the accumulated people accumulated from poor nutrition or malabsorption over their years that weakened the immune and allowed the cancer (and other degenerative diseases like Arthritis to take hold) This is my understanding from my research to get rid of my own problems.  When I first started getting arthritic problems so many medical and friends would say things like “ at your age you must expect to get some problems”.  A sort of inference that these diseases are an age related event and `I am convinced that age has nothing to do with these diseases and the reason we see them starting to pop up in ever in ever increasing numbers in younger and younger people, is a direct result of our greater industrialisation of the food industry with ever increasing amounts of highly processed foods with their chemicals added to improve flavour, appearance, preservatives, fillers, pesticide residues, fillers and so on, all unnatural chemicals the body can’t process but that expend the shelf life and profits for the retail companies at the detriment of our health. By attempting to totally remove these so called foods (artificial chemical foods) I found I improved dramatically and pain levels reduced at an astonishing rate.  One person told me just this week that her pain levels had reduced from a level of 4 out of ten (1 being just start of pain and 10 being screaming point) to now about a 3 at least 25% in 5 weeks far better than any drug.  This wasn’t the best result however, it was the regained dexterity in bodily functions, balance etc.  She said that the most appreciated measurable gain was that she had been able to climb up and prune her fruit trees last week something she had no hope of even considering last year In following blogs I will be sharing how we can substantially remove a cause of poor absorption and at the same time enjoy the taste of great foods.   Vitamin B6 B6 is involved in over 100 different enzyme reactions in the body, including the one that converts the amino acid tryptophan to serotonin (your body's natural antidepressant). A Vitamin B6 deficiency can cause irritability, depression, confusion, mouth sores, weakened immune function and intellectual decline. Dietary sources of B6 include brewers yeast, carrots, peas, sunflower seeds, wallnuts, wheat germ, bananas, avocados, beans, broccoli, brown rice and other whole grains, salmon, potatoes, and spinach.  Also herbs like alfalfa, catnip, and young green barley powder. Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's) Omega-3 fatty acids are essential because they are involved in the functioning of the brain. Deficiencies are linked to decreased memory and mental abilities, nerve tingling, poor vision, lowered immune function, increased LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and irregular heartbeat. Easily found food sources of Omega-3's are walnuts, Brazil nuts, avocados, dark leafy greens, salmon, tuna and sesame seeds. ========== Now, each of these stress-fighting nutrients is released during digestion, being absorbed through the intestines into your cells and bloodstream. So it's essential to make sure your digestion and nutrient absorption are as efficient as possible, so you actually GET the nutrients your body needs. Two keys to being able to absorb those stress-busting nutrients In order to maximise your absorption of nutrients and make your digestion as easy and complete as possible it is important to eat combinations of foods that don't result in overproduction of acid (and destruction of nutrients). It's also crucial to keep the population of beneficial intestinal bacteria strong and plentiful, since they too are most important in the digestion process and nutrient absorption.  No pills hold all the answers but the combinations we eat out foods are the prime important factors along with what we eat. Every raw vegetable has within it the enzymes we need to optimally digest that vegetable particularly dark green salad vegetables that are full of chlorophyll combined with the other coloured vegies like carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, beets, (raw grated beetroots are actually tasty in a salad, try it.